Thirty Seven: Senator Stevens, IL Senate

So another long-entrenched national political figure is caught using the system, flagrantly, for his personal benefit. The story makes national headlines - for about 10 minutes.

The Illinois legislature creates a system for giving itself pay raises which can only be stopped by both houses of the legislature passing a resolution to reject the pay raise. So, one house, the senate, decides to stay out of session until after the deadline for rejecting the pay raise. This issue receives virtually no press coverage at all.

Americans obviously either, a) like having corrupt and arrogant leaders, or b) this kind of behavior is so systemic in politics that it is the accepted and expected norm. In the case of Stevens, he had to be so blatant and arrogant and persistent that it was impossible not to call him on the carpet. And big deal. So an 84 year old guy who has fleeced the system for decades will have to retire.

It seems to me that any taxpayer who does not agressively seek to wrench and twist every piece of the tax code, and every government regulation so as to reduce the amount of revenue being sucked out of our incomes, is an idiot.

Thirty Six: President By Popular Acclaim

So, BO, having dispatched Hillary and Bill, which so many of us are and will continue to be so grateful for, now goes off on a mid-east and European tour, looking and sounding all the while like the actual President of the United States. The press dutifully reports BO's every move, meeting, and statement. Network anchors beg to be seen with "him" so they can self-aggrandize by then "reporting" on their "exclusive interviews.

Doesn't any of this smack of the least bit of impropriety to professional observers? Isn't this the kind of trip normally made by a President-elect?

My guess is that the strategy and thinking employed by BO and his political advisors (mainly Axelrod) to secure the Democratic nomination is not the same approach required for the general election. What works on Democrats does not necessarily work on independents and certainly doesn't work on most Republicans. For the most part, Republicans need something more than a picture. And in this case, the picture which probably does work for Democrats (seeing BO appear to be Prsident), may actually hurt BO with Republicans by coming across so presumptuous.

Maybe Hillary was right? Maybe he's not electable?